Method fob



R. SAVY May 19, 1936.

METHOD FOR REMOVING BISCUITS FROM OVEN CONVEYERS Filed Spt. 6, 1935 eao INVENTOR ATTORNEY ROBFRTMVY Patented May 19, 1936 UlTED STATES PTE OFFICE METHO FOR REMOVING [BISCUITS FROM OVEN CONVEYEBS Application September 6, 1935, Serial No. 39,412

in France September 21, 1934 2 Claims.

This invention relates to installations for baking biscuits wherein the paste is cut and moldecl to the orm of the finished biscuit and is deposited on an endless band which passes the biscuits through an oven tunnel, from which they emergabaked, but still very hot and relatively soft. The conveyer band continues on outside the oven, permitting the biscuits to cool and to take a denite consistency. The biscuts are then detached from the conveyer band and deposited on another conveyer which carries them toward the Sorting and packing units.

The bands are plain, perforated, or mesh, but my present improvement is more especially adapted for use with bands made of wire mesh, although it may be used with a perforated ribbon band.

As is known, the wire mesh band facilitates release of vapor from the biscuits while being baked, but for the purpose of making biscuits from soft and semi-soft pastes the wire mesh bands as ordinarily used have presented serious dimculty. On leaving the oven both the wire mesh and the biscuits are still hot and the paste, which has been deposited fresh on the mesh conveyer at the feed end of the oven, has penetrated more or less deeply into the meshes and trequently became stuck between the metal wires during cooling. Then when the biscuit arrives at the last roll around which the conveyer turns, the edge of the biscuit will proceed forward because it is sufiiciently rigid so it will not go around the bend of the roll, so that particles oi dough which are stuck in the mesh become c'ti.- 35 tached from the biscuit. consequently the bottoms of the biscuits show undesirable fiaws, and some inconvenience arises when a stripping ar rangement, such as a scraper, is provided for the purpose of detaching the biscuts from the mesh band. Moreover, pieces of dough remain imprisoned in the mesh and when'they again pass through the oven they are again baked, so that ultimately they are transformed into carbon, which clogs the meshes, necessitating cleaning, which is laborious and difiicult and which rarely permits the band to regain its original qualities.

The object of the present inventlon is to provide a practical process whereby the difficulties above mentioned are overcome. The process is characterized by progressively raising the biscuit surface from the mesh band just as the biscuit leaves the oven and before it has cooled and hardened, then replacing the biscuit on the same band, in its original position.

My method or process is not dependent upon (Ci. m'i-54) any specific mechanism nor its mode oi operation, but may be carried out in a number of modes, four of which are shown for the purpose of the description. The process may even be carlied out by hand.

In the accompanying drawing, like letters indicate like parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic View of a continuously operated installation for baking biscuits.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line ?ri-t oi Fig. 3, showing on an enlarged scale a portion of a biscuit on a wire mesh band as it appears when emerging from the delivery end of the oven.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the band shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. i is a cross section on line ti of Fig. 3.

Fig; 5 is a bottom View of a biscuit made of soit dough or paste as it appears after having been baked on a wire mesh of the character shown in Fig. 3, employing the claimed process.

Fig. 6 is a View of the bottom of the biscuit as it appears after having been bahed on a plain or unperforated band of ribbon metal.

Fig. 7 is a side view, partly in section, showing the liting action of one type of device for carrying out the method.

Fig. 8 is a side View of an alternative form oi lifting device capable of being actuated by the mesh or perforated band that carries the biscuits through the oven.

Fig. 9 is a dagrammatic view of the same form of lifting device, as shown in Fig. 7 driven ;from an independent source of power.

Fig. 10 is a detail sectional view showing a still further means for carrying out the claimed method.

Referring to Fig. l, a suitable baking installation includes an oven tunnel i in which an endless conveyer band runs in the direction oi arrow f, on two rollers ti, d. Roller 3 is adjacent the feed end 5' of the oven, and roller t in ieyond the discharge end. In front of the conveyer 2 is an endless band l, the inclined end t of which overlies the band and delivers to it the pieces of fresh dough as they are discharged, for example, V from a cutting machine 9. At its discharge end the conveyer 2 delivers to a conveyer li) over an apron li.

Figs. 2, 3, and i show the Construction of a. wire mesh band l2. Each mesh !3 forms a. small prismatic opening. The dough piece M penetrates more or less deeply into the meshes fl3 and the wires iz leave imprints 55 in the bottoms of the biscuits more or less deep, according to the hardness or softness of the paste or dough. Between these imprints, illustrated in Figt 5, are bosses IG, presented by the portion of the dough which penetrates the mesh.

In Fig. 6 the numerals I'I and !8 represent, respectively blisters or pittings, in order to show the eflect on a biscuit surface which has been baked on a plain conveyer band of ribbon metal, this being typical of the undesirable eifect of baking on such a surface. That disadvantage is overcome by my improved method, which will now be described.

Assuming the conveyer 2 to be made of mesh, as' shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, it is to be noted that the biscuits at the delivery end of the oven are in such condition that they can be easily raised and separated from the mesh. It is also to be noted that it is only while the mesh is cooling very rapidly that the dough particles are inclined to stick to the meshes, where they have penetrated. This rapid cooling takes place only on the length of conveyer between the discharge end of the oven and the roller 4. The farther the hot biscuits travel from the oven, the stronger they adhere to the mesh, and if allowed to travel clear to the roller 4 the bosses of dough IG, upon leaving the band 2 and passing to the conveyer m, will stick to the band so tightly that the biscuits can not be detached without breaking oil! the bosses. such breakage makes small unsightly indentations on the face of the finished goods, as above mentioned. When the band returns to the feed end 5 of the oven, the adhering pieces will be baked again.

According to my method, the biscuit is raised as it arrives at the discharge end of the oven, and is immediately reposed again on the band in its original position, the lifting being done, as is indicated in Fig. 7, by applying the lifting force through the meshes of the band against the bosses IS, so that the bosses are not broken away from the face of the biscuit. It is not necessary that the biscuit shall return exactly to -its original position on the mesh band, and in that case the bosses of dough will not, upon being reposed, en'- gage the meshes so deeply. In any event, it is then possible to detach the biscuits from the mesh band at the top of roller 4 without any breaking, tearing, or indenting of the biscuit face.

This result follows from the fact that therigidity of the biscuit when it leaves the oven is much less than that which it will have when cooled, yet it is sufflciently rigid, so that the biscuit can be raised to the extent indicated without risk of dei'orming it. Upon being returned to the band it is not subjected to any appreciable tendency to deform, and by the time it has arrived at roller 4 it has sufliciently cooled and hardened to pass across apron I l onto conveyer o without damage.

This method makes it possible to properly bake sort dough articles on a wire mesh band to a degree that has not been possible heretofore.

when attempts have been made to bake soft dough on a wire mesh band, without employing the process above described, the soit dough would penetrate very deely into the mesh and undesirably large pieces oi' dough would be tom from the V face oi' the biscuits as they passed over the roller 4. These scrap pieces adhered to the wire mesh,

became carbonized by their repassage through a the oven, clogging the meshes oi' the band, giving an unsatisfactory appearance to the biscuits and necessitating diflicult, laborious and expensive cleaning of the band.

Referring to Fig. 7, there is arranged below the conveyer band 2 a brush 19 with short bristles 20, which may be of bronze, brass, wire, quills, Vegetable stems, flbres or the like, mounted on a hub 2| and an axis 22, the length of the hub being equal to the width of the conveyer band. The axis 22 is rotatable in bearings 23 at each end of the hub, the bearings being held by fianges 23a mounted in a slide 24 upon a fixed support 25. The brush !9 is preferably located adjacent the delivery-wall 6 of the oven. A cap 26 may be bolted on the seat 25. A screw 21 is threaded through the cap 26 and is provided with'a hand wheel 28, whereby the height of the brush. !9 can be regulated so that the bristles 20 pass through the mesh |3 and extend slightly above the surface of the mesh.

The traveling conveyer 2 draws the bristles 2!! on the top portion of brush l 9 in the direction of the arrow f, rotating the brush at a speed equal to the speed of the band.

When the biscuit |4 arrives at the top of the brush, it is engaged by the bristiles 20, which project through the mesh, and is raised by them. The biscuit is immediately returned to its original position, or .substantially so, or it may be placed somewhat rearwardly on the wire mesh, in the direction of the arrow f'. This loosening of the biscuits when they are in the slight condition of hardness above described avoids any sticking ,of the bosses !6 in the mesh when the band has become cooled.

As indicated in Fig. 9, the brush may be power driven to rotate at a tangential speed preferably 'a little less than the linear speed of the band. In

this instance the bristles have a very slightly slower relative movement in the direction oi' the arrow f' (Fig. 7) in relation to the conveyer band, which tends to displace the biscuits 'slightlytoward the rear.

As is shown in Fig. 8, the brush 29 may be straight and an up-and-down oscillating movement may be imparted to it by a continuously rotating cam 30, or by any other similar arrangement. Preferably, the upward movement of brush 29 is timed to appropriately enter the bristles into the meshes !3.

The element which operates below the mesh' and raises the biscuits may be other than a brush, for example, in Fig. 10, a rotatable sleeve 31 made of plastic material has a surface which deforms by upward pressure against the mesh band l2, forming bosses 32 which penetrate into the meshes in the manner shown. `Such a yieldable boss would enter each mesh, thus assuring the 'perfect loosening of the biscuits.

By the method above described, I have greatly improved the Operating efilciency of bake ovens material that project downwardly into said' openings, lifting the bosses in regular order free from engagement with the meshes of the band, lowering the said successively lifted portions of the biscuits 'onto the moving band in substantially their original positions, further cooling the biscuits,

and removing them rrom the band.

2. Method of separating bake biscits and the like rrom a traveling oven band having meshlike openings, said method comprising: applying lifting force to the lowermost faces of bosses of baked material that project downwardly into said openings, prior to the cooling and hardening of the baked material, lifting such boss portions of each biscuit clear of the band and mesh openings, lowerng the said litted portions of the bissuits onto the moving band in substantially their original positions, whereby the bosses of said baked material are tre'ed from attachment to the marginal edges ot the respective meshes without disrupting any considerable portion of the bosses.

ROBERT SAVY. 

